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When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put
 
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When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put [Hardcover]

Vivian Swift (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 28, 2008

A charming, illustrated celebration of puttering, doodling, daydreaming, and settling down after years on the road.

Following a lifetime of trekking across the globe, Vivian Swift racked up twenty-three temporary addresses in twenty years, finally dropped her well-worn futon mattress and rucksack in a small town on the edge of the Long Island Sound. She spent the next decade quietly taking stock of her life, her immediate surroundings, and, finally, what it means to call a place a home.

The result is When Wanderers Cease to Roam. Filled with watercolors of beautiful local landscapes, seasonal activities, and small, overlooked pleasures of easy living, each chapter chronicles, month by month, the beautifully mundane perks of remaining at home—from curious notices in the local paper to the variations of autumnal clouds. At once gorgeously rendered and wholly original, this delightful and masterfully observed year of staying put shows us how the details of travel and the details of our lives remain with us—how they can nurture and sustain us, and how the past and the present become, in the end, intertwined.


Frequently Bought Together

When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put + Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures + An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Vivian Swift is a freelance writer and former assistant vice president of Christie's Inc. This is her first book.


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (October 28, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1596914610
  • ISBN-13: 978-1596914612
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

34 Reviews
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4 star:
 (5)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (34 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Journal about Appreciating the Small Things in Life, November 21, 2008
By 
This review is from: When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put (Hardcover)
Vivian Swift has led an interesting, nomadic life. After living in 23 different places in 20 years, she decided to stay put in a small village on Long Island Sound. When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put is so much more than her journal for a year of "staying put." This is one of those books that is hard to categorize or describe. Yes, it is a journal, but it also tells of Vivian's past (she's kept a journal since she was 19.) There are some tidbits of news from the local village and some delightful quotes. There are also some interesting facts about things like the teacup handle and why we start our year with January. And, oh, the illustrations! Some of that may sound dull, but this book is anything but!

I adored this book. The drawings are beautiful and I found myself poring over every detail in them. The best thing about this book, though, is the fact that it reminds us to take delight in and be thankful for the small, everyday things in life - things like a bird's feather, an animal's tracks in the snow, or a shady spot in the summer. This book was published by Bloomsbury on October 28.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful seasonal collage, December 24, 2008
This review is from: When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put (Hardcover)
This remarkable book is very difficult to explain. On the back cover, author Vivian Swift calls it an "illustrated chronicle," but that descriptor suggests a story or at least a loose stringing together of related events. Rather than a "chronicle," When Wanderers Cease to Roam is more of a seasonal collage. The book progresses month by month through Swift's life in a small village on the Long Island Sound and is stuffed full of the author's watercolor paintings, drawings, and related musings. Swift hand lettered the entire book, including the front page with the publishing information and the ISBN numbers. I haven't come across anything so carefully crafted in a long time.

In January, we are treated to watercolors of snowy country scenes and pen-and-ink drawings of snowmen and winter gulls in various poses. There's also a mini-memoir describing five of Swift's notable past birthdays, including: "Celebrating at the King David Hotel (built in 1931) in Jerusalem (founded in 2000 BCE) where the tomates provencals are unforgettable and I have no idea that my soldier dining companion will become my first husband. I am 30." February is a homage to travel while May focuses on gardens and gardening. Some of the book's most beautiful watercolors are of the night sky in July.

When Wanderers Cease to Roam won't appeal to everyone. It's slightly cutesy in places and contains plenty of cats and tea cups. Although I usually abhor such books, I was utterly charmed by this one. Judging by the glowing reviews this book is receiving, I'm not alone.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book! Charming. Perfect hostess gift., November 6, 2008
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This review is from: When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put (Hardcover)
I loved this book. It's absolutely charming - both in the writing and in the artwork (which the author also did). She has a way of writing about common every-day things in a way that makes you look at them differently. I know that sounds like a cliche, but it's really true. For instance, she has a page on mud. Yes, mud. And, believe it or not, after reading that page, I was fascinated by mud and the different kinds of mud. I wouldn't have believed that to be possible. Whenever I'm someone's houseguest, I always bring a gift for my host/hostess. I used to bring candles or baked goods. But now I'm going to give copies of this book.
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